A I'Cie Wizard
by StardustXtreme
Summary: "My name is Daniel Smith, and what I'm about to tell you is something you wouldn't believe." - Daniel Smith, without any knowledge of Final Fantasy XIII is thrown headfirst into Cocoon with nothing more than what he thought were toys from Kamen Rider Wizard, Now he has to find a way back home. Will he fall to Despair and become Cie'th or Fight and keep Hope alive? OCxVanille
1. Chapter 1: A Brand New Wizard

I do not own Final Fantasy XIII as the distributor and ownership is Square Enix, I also do not own Kamen Rider Wizard as it's claimed by Shotaro Ishinomori and Toei, All I shall own in this crossover is My OC!

**Chapter I**  
**A Brand New Wizard**

"_**My name is Daniel Smith, and what I'm about to tell you is something you wouldn't believe."**_

**~?~**

Gunshots were echoing all around my ears as I stared down at the path, robed in something like a priestess kimono, garbed in white and somewhat similar to a strait-jacket with some blue highlights on the sleeves and strange headpiece on the hood, almost in fashion to that of a neck brace, instead, hugging the sides of my head, we just barely escaped a train bound for Pulse and ended up on the transit between Pulse and Cocoon.

I'm getting ahead of myself here, my name is Daniel Smith and I'm not from this strange world, one day, I was about to play Final Fantasy XIII with no prior knowledge of the game or its characters despite it being out for a while, but a friend lent it to me and I decided to try playing it despite it being a thundery day, after a brilliant flash of white from selecting New Game, I woke and found myself in this strange world arriving at a place called Bodhum.

A voice of a male snapped me out of my thoughts and I gazed upwards from out under the hood, he wore a white trench coat with a black bandana wrapped around his head with his blonde hair coming out from it. "We'll clear you a path out of here, so be ready to-" but he was cut off by others wanting to fight with this man and then the words came. "Okay, volunteers front and centre."

"_I can't fight, I'm not that courageous__.._. _besides, it's not my fight._" I thought as I watched people pick up guns and a woman stepped up, I heard a boy speak. "Mom?" he asked and I felt a bit jealous, he had a mother and mine…wasn't here until a girl took the last gun. "Here!" her voice sounded almost Australian to me and the man spoke.

"We're going home together!" He said rather confidently and I merely said nothing, how could I? I wasn't home at all and soon we were being led by one of the bandana's friends to a higher level and we shuffled along to what I assumed was an aircraft carrier and I watched, my eyes taking in the chaos and destruction that ravaged the area as I noticed a big structure being passed through by airships and the boy and girl I heard by voice were nearby, the boy stripping his strange garments for clothing underneath to have a green bandanna around his neck and a yellow jacket with orange small cape on his shoulders while a case for carrying something on his waist as hands were gloved, his hair was white as snow which I found to be an odd colour of choice as he stared to two other people presumably family

My attention was then brought to the girl,, she too stripped off the outfit and under was a most unusual attire I seen, she had bright red hair curled into pigtails, green eyes and her ears pierced with small silver hoops while her outfit consisted of light pink halter top, an orange and yellow skirt and some beige boots and for reason, had a fur pelt around her waist, numerous bracelets or beads were also attached somewhere on her.

"_Whoa…_" I thought to myself, even though the world around me was practically hell, she somehow seemed to shine through all of it, either that or it was hormones reacting to her, but then before I could gain control of myself, she hugged the boy and I sighed quietly. "_Of course._" I thought before she ran off, the boy following after her but my feet were moving to follow.

"_Wait, what am I wearing this for?_" My senses came to like a few steps behind the two and pulled off the strange garment, having figured out how it worked from others getting it off, revealing my dark brown flat hair, with it coming down just above my eyebrows, my attire consisting of a black unzipped jacket with a dull red shirt underneath while I wore black jeans and white trainers, laces tied in black, but the most unusual thing I had was a belt with a hand serving a buckle, a yellow outlined hand with black in it and two buttons to rotate it in the opposite direction as on my right hip, was very tightly knotted pouch at a size of a smart phone, the top zipped up as there was notably, some items within it, but on my right hand, on my finger was a normal sized ring, but on it was a red crystal with some plastic attached and the other hand, same finger, had the same but instead, a smaller form of the buckle imprinted on it and attached to the back, was a holster and a silver handle to grab, the object securely in place.

Now you may call me childish for wearing the Wizardriver and having two of the Rings, but they were brought into this world with me well, the buckle merging with my normal belt and the Rings made more smaller so they don't stick out during the transit, but to my displeasure, I haven't been able to use them or transform, or rather, I couldn't, they were just toys, only the item attached to my back wasn't.

The man in bandanna did arrive on some hovercraft, but I couldn't hear the conversation between him or his friends and the man shot off and the two approached a left behind craft the same as before as I tried hard to listen.

"I want to tell him, it's just that-" The boy grabbed the girl's wrist and she asked him. "Say... you know how to fly this?" She asked and she pushed him into the strange craft and joined him, taking the back seat and I slowly approached them, "That will make us I'Cie."

"_I'Cie? What's that?"_ I asked myself in my thoughts before I heard a cry "What are you three doing!?" It was the muscular man with orange Mohawk or something similar running towards us and the boy spoke. "Here we go!"

My body reacted and I just leapt onto barely the side of the compartment as the machine shuddered violently and ascended and I found the girl stare at me in surprise and grabbed a hold of my shirt and pulled me in roughly, an arm around my waist and clutching onto the boy's waist as but unfortunately, one of the wings hit the rail and rotated upside down into a spin,, naturally the girl screamed and I did too but the boy somehow regained control of the craft and the man called out. "Get back here! You hear me?" Get back here!" He called out but the boy drive on forward, to the strange huge transporting object, not asking if I wanted to be down or not.

**~?~**

Screams came from all three of us as we literally crash-landed and sprawled out about a good distance away, myself on my back, the girl on top of me and the boy's head on her back as we were all conscious to say the least

"Wow that was close…" She said and took note of her position and pushed herself off and did the boy and I sat up as the girl spoke. "Now… where is the…" We all looked to see the craft had crashed nearby. "Well then…" She said and looked around. "Guess it's… just us." And she connected her index fingers at a point and her little fingers interlocked with one another.

I pushed myself up onto my legs, trying to regain my bearing. "What do you expect?" The boy's voice rose and continued. "Even soldiers know not to go near the fal'Cie, you become a Pulse I'Cie and you're finished." He said with finality.

"What do you mean, finished?" The girl asked him. "Haven't you heard, Miss-" he was cut off. "Vanille." The boy was confused and she continued. "My name, and yours?" She offers a hand up to help him up and he took it. "Hope." He answered.

"And you are?" She finally took notice of me and I looked directly at her, my brown eyes meeting her green ones. "Daniel." I answered her.

"What were we thinking?" Hope asked, looking down at the floor as Vanille looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "Well, since we're here, let's look around!" She said and Hope sighed and we proceeded onwards up some steps. "Hey, check this out!"

Vanille climbed up to a big pillar and went behind it a while before bringing out some strange head piece resembles a pair of antlers and the body consisting of four long wires with hooks and stared at us. "Well?" She asked, an almost serious expression. "That's uh…" Hope started to say and I finished for him. "A strange weapon?" I asked as she playfully swung it around but then a roar came, or a growl more like as a red bestial creature was the top of another flight of stairs and Vanille took her position, wielding the strange weapon and Hope bringing out a boomerang and I reached down for the handle of the object attached to the container on my back and brought out a strange sword with the hand buckle adjourning the hilt, it was the Wizarswordgun.

"No daydreaming now." Vanille said and Hope threw his Boomerang, somehow controlling it with very good aim so it returned after bouncing off the creature and I switch the Wizardswordgun to its Shooting Mode, flipping the blade back to reveal a barrel and pulled the trigger, firing upon the creature with accurate aim before Vanille used the hooks to digs into the creature at a distance, between us the three, the creature fell soon after, disappearing into black.

"Okay, back to exploring." Vanille said and turned on her heel as she placed her wand behind her as we ascended the stairs nearby as me and Hope followed, we walked around, fighting monsters of the same type as before, thankfully, Vanille and Hope seemed to be know what they were doing as I never really had a chance to practice my…swordsmanship.

"Aren't you scared?" Hope asked Vanille and she casually responded. "Not so much." As Hope replied. "You really don't get it." He said as Vanille turned around with a thoughtful look. "Pulse fal-Cie and I'Cie are bad news, that's why Cocoon kicked them out, live too close to fal'Cie? One way ticket to Pulse! That's the Purge in a nutshell!"

"If they catch us here, they'll Purge us too! And then-" He was cut off by Vanille. "What's' your problem?" she asked and Hope responded. "What's my- Pulse is hell on earth!" He said with a despaired look before Vanille hugged the boy again.

"_Can't be worse than this, that's for sure._" I thought before a voice echo. "Serah? Can you hear me? Where are you?" I looked up and around. "That sounds like that guy." I noted and the voice continued. "Hang on baby! Your hero's on the way!" before some lights activated on the roof and connected to some pillars as a set of stairs were made from the floor.

"He is here… calling himself a hero…"" Hope said and looked down and Vanille spoke. "He's coming our way." She said and Hope stared at her. "W-What should I do?" He asked her and she responded. "Tell him what you need to."

"But nothing I say will change what happened." He said and Vanille took a moment to think. "We could just… run away. She suggested and he nodded and I spoke. "Well, let's get going." I said and followed Hope who led on.

We soon came to a rather huge circular platform as we descended another stairway with much space to give, pillar everywhere as Hope was awestruck, I was too. "This is almost like… a station." I muttered and Hope nodded at my answer before groans were heard and from both left and right sides, creatures were approaching us, almost like zombie but not, having some coral on them and some kind of red eyes in their chest.

"What are they?" Hope asked with a scared tone as we stood back to back in a triangle formation. "Cie'th! I'Cie who failed! This is what happens… when I'Cie don't complete the Focus the fal'Cie gave them."

The Cie'th monsters slowly approached us, tightening a circle formation before a yell came as we all looked to see the trench coat man came from a flight of steps, running up them and tackling one out of the way and joining us as he spread out his arm in a protective manner. "Let's even these odds!" He said and we all pulled our weapons out.

The man produced a hand grenade form his jacket and threw it between two Cie'th and they exploded while Hope accurately controlled his boomerang to hit another one, Vanille uses his Bindings to trap one in place and I ran forward, thrusting the gun point blank into the Cie'th and firing in its abdomen and quickly moved back as fast as my legs could as the man grinned. "Nice toy kiddo." He said and punched one away from him, well in the stomach

We all worked together, the trench coat man providing his body and strength to cover us should we not back away in time.

Hope fell to his knees as I fell upon one, kneeling with the Wizarswordgun for support, I wasn't used to this all this fighting to save my life, put it simply as the man spoke. "What are you doing here? You gotta leave." He approached us and Vanille looked to us both and gave a nervous chuckle.

"Okay, listen, find someplace to hide and keep quiet." He walked around. "Once I find Serah, we'll all leave together, you'll be home in time for dinner." He smiled, giving us thumbs up and he started to break into a run had Vanille not spoken. "Wait!"

"Who's Serah?" She asked him and he turned around. "My wife. Future wife, that is." He said and looked out to the vastness of the room. "She's a Pulse I'Cie." He said calmly and Vanille muttered. "Oh no." she covered her mouth.

"She's somewhere in here along with that fal'Cie, I gotta find her and set her free." He started to descend down the steps. "I gotta find her and set her free!" He said as Hope got up and cried out. "What's wrong with you? Why do you want to help I'Cie? They're the enemy!"

The man turned around as Hope continued. "How can you save a I'Cie and not... and not." He couldn't finish what he was saying. "That's insane!" He finished, stamping a foot down and the man chuckled a bit. "Probably, but I gotta do something, right? I'll be back!" he said as he rubbed his bandana and broke off into a small run, out of our sight as Hope fell to his knees again.

"Should we wait around for him and hitch a ride?" She asked us and Hope banged his fists on the floor. "I'd rather go to Pulse! Why is this happening to me?" He asked and stood myself up, catching my breath. "When they found the fal'Cie the other day, we were just visiting Bodhum… but the army took, us, threw us on that train, and because of that guy, Mom is- And he wants to help a I'Cie?" he asked, a hand covering his eyes.

"_Is he saying, that guy is responsible for his mom's…_" I thought before the man returned to us. "Hey again." He waved to us and Vanille nodded. "Hey." She said and bent down to Hope, holding his hands. "Let's go with him." And he looked at her.

"What?" He asked and she continued. "You gotta talk to him, Hope. If you don't take this chance, you'll regret it forever." She said as I looked at them. "Besides, the more we have, the better we'll survive, right?" I asked and Hope looked at me and nodded. "Okay." As Vanille rose him up and the man broke into a run. "Let's go!" He said and we all followed behind him.

The man lead us through a strange puzzle mechanism, solving it as we descended on a platform and on the way down, we spotted two pink haired women and a black male with an afro, one of the women, carrying the other and the man jumped off and landed on the floor and ran up as he held her hand. "Serah."

"Is that… my hero?" Serah asked as we approached from behind, Serah was one with a ponytail to left side of her head as the man spoke. "Let's get you outta here." Before the other woman who seemed to be wearing some kind of futuristic left shoulder pad. "Hands off, I'm taking her home."

"Sis I-" The man said as the woman answered back. "I'm not your sister! You couldn't protect her, it's your fault she-" as Serah interrupted her. "You can save us." She said weakly and the woman looked at her. "Serah?" She asked as Serah repeated it. "You can save us, protect us all. Save… Cocoon."

"Save Cocoon? Serah? That was your Focus?" The woman asked and the man spoke. "Anything, I'll do anything. Leave it to me, you'll see. I'll protect Cocoon, I'll save everyone!" the man said desperately and the woman looked at Serah. "Somehow, I'll make things right." As the man continued. "You just relax."

"Thank you." Serah managed to say before a blue light started to envelop her and started floating upwards and starting to turn to crystal. "What…?" I managed to say and Hope started to speak.

"L'Cie who fulfilled their Focus, transform to crystal and gain eternal life, just like the stories say." The crystalized Serah descended onto the ground as the man spoke. "Serah, Sweet dreams." He said as the woman pushed the afro male and approached him, obviously mad. "Sweet dreams?" He grabbed him by the scruff of his coat. "She's not sleeping! Serah… she's..!" She let go and stepped back.

"She's alive!" The man answered. "No!" the woman said and the man continued. "The legend, remember the legend I'Cie who fulfil their Focus turn to crystal and gain eternal life!" He was turning and looked at each of the people who were gathered. "Eternal life! She's not dead!" He said and stared at the woman. "Serah's my bride-to-be, I promised to be hers forever, I don't' care how many years I'll have to wait-" The woman punched him as the man fell to the floor

"it's over! Open your eyes and face reality!" She said with a final tone to her voice as we all watched the argument unfold and the whole place shook and the afro man spoke. "Oh! Wait."

Hope fell to his knees, covering his ears as Vanille looked at him. "What now?" worry in her voice as the man continued. "The army!" He said as debris and dust started falling, Serah's man and her sister covering the crystalized Serah.

"Care to explain!?" I asked in a panic and the man continued. "Must be a Sanctum strike! Bring down the Vestige and the fal'Cie with it!" He said as Vanille managed to make her way to him and grabbed his hands for support. "Aren't they taking it back to Pulse? That's what the Purge was, right?"

"All they care about is getting everything from Pulse off Cocoon. Dead or alive, it's all the same." He answered as Hope cried out. "We can't stay here, they'll kill us!"

The shaking came to an abrupt stop and up ahead, a door with a strange orange mark vanished and opened. "I'll be right back, hold on." Serah's man said and held her hand briefly before walking around to approach the door.

"Trench Coat, where you going?" Afro asked and he looked at him. "Date with the fal'Cie, got some things to talk about." He said, looking up at the open door. "What? You're gonna ask it to help her? Are you out of your mind kid?" Afro asked him.

"That thing wants to chew us and spit us out!" He said and Trench Coat turned, swinging an arm. "Then what do you want me to do?" he shouted at him as Serah's Sister stepped forward and passed by Trench Coat, I barely heard her name. "Lightning?"

Afro sighed and followed them. "Here we go…" He said and us three followed after them, albeit, reluctantly and inside was a hallway and came to a stop at some machine and Hope spoke. "So this is… the fal'Cie." He said.

"Serah's a crystal now, you gave her a Focus, and she did it! You got what you want! Now let her go!" Trench Coat said, pointing at the machine but nothing was occurring and he fell to his knees. "Please… turn her back!" He begged and looked up at the machine, hand over his heart. "I'll be your I'Cie instead!"

Lightning started to speak. "Fine, you go on begging, like this thing gives a damn what we want!" She drawn out her weapon and struck the contraption as Trench Coat looked at her. "Lightning!"

"It's this thing's fault the Purge started, and people are dying, Serah told us to save Cocoon, that means this thing needs to die!" She said and the whole room lit up with an yellow hue, gears activating and the spherical object Lightning struck opening with a flash of light as on the left and right sides, two revolving pillars emerged and some within that object, some kind of lighted crystal in its centre as the machine humanoid with claws as everyone stared, Hope running back emerged as well and he slammed into an energy barrier similar to the mark on the door as me and Vanille ran to check on him.

"We're trapped!" Hope said, worried and I didn't want to acknowledge him about that but it was true, we were stuck between a fal'Cie and no way out, clashes were heard from behind, appearently, Lightning, Afro and Trench Coat were all attacking the creature as we watched on, after a while, they managed to beat it and a huge flash occurred, blinding everyone.

~**?~**

My ears rang with the sound of bells tolling and I found myself floating in some strange place, a large crystal hovering and Lightning asked a question that was on all our minds. "Where are we?" and Trench Coat's voice came next. "What's going on?" He asked as well.

The huge crystal was hit with some energy and from it came I suppose, the fal'Cie's true form and tendrils of white grabbed all of us, and their grip was strong and a flash of light trailed down, hitting everyone one of us, mine ending up on the back of right hand, the sensation was surreal and the fal'Cie released us but instead flashes of a grey haze of some monster came into my mind and overwhelmed me, a blur of grey and white.

**-?-**

"Serah!" A familiar voice called out and woke me from my vision and we pushed ourselves us, I counted who else there were, Lightning, Trench Coat, Afro, Vanille, and Hope. "Is this…for real?" Afro asked and I looked at our landscape, we were standing on crystal with formations being of water waves.

"This must be… Lake Bresha?"Afro asked no-one in particular. "I guess we fell from up there and the lake turned to crystal?" He said and continued but my mind was elsewhere, trying to shake off the vision I had, shaking my head a bit to attempt to clear my mind before a Cie'th was stuttering behind Lightning, Trench Coat reacting.

"Watch out!" He blocked the heavy coral arm of the Cie'th and his arm glowed blue and he punched the Cie'th, ice forming from the blow. "What did I… just do?" he asked in confusion.

"You used magic! You used the power of a I'Cie! The fal'Cie cursed us, we're all I'Cie now!" As more Cie'th were gathering and I heard his words and I wondered, maybe just maybe?

"_It's worth a try…_" I thought and clicked the on switch of the Driver Buckle and it spoke. "_**Shadooie touch to henshin! Shadooie touch to henshin**__!"_ It said and I flipped the plastic over the red gem, forming a mask as everyone stared at me and I scanned the ring.

"_**Flame~ Please**__! __**Hi~ Hi~ Hi~ Hi**__!_" The belt said and I extended my arm out, a Flame magic circle forming beside me and slowly passed over, forming the familiar armour of Wizard when it finished, looks of surprise shocked everyone and I was surprised too as I move into Wizard's stance. "It's… Showtime." I said and Lightning withdrawn her sword. "Right." She said as Snow, Vanille and herself stood together as I joined them, bringing out my own weapon.

Vanille cast some type of Wind-Magic while Snow was charging and punching while taking little amounts of damage, but Lightning was quick and agile on her feet, slicing left and right, back flipping to gain some ground and I too joined the fray, striking upon the closest Cie'th and sparks were created on contact as I done a side slash as well and use one of my feet to kick it back and folded the blade back, revealing the Gun mode and fired a couple of shots upon it, causing it to fall and disappear into darkness.

"Wah!" Hope's voice cried out as he was stepping back from two Cie'th coming for him and Afro with his guns firing at a Cie'th and I spoke. "Hope, don't move, stay right where you are!" I fired six bullets straight at Hope, the projectiles coated in red magic and just as it seemed as they were about to hit him, they curved around and connected with the Cie'th causing them to stagger back as I stood beside him.

"Let's try this one out." I said and stabbed the WizarSworGun into the ground and replaced the flame ring on my finger, I had a Ring with a dragon seemed bound by chains and rotated the Driver as it spoke. "_**Luppachi magic, touch to go! Luppachi magic, touch to go**_**!**" It repeated as I put it over the Hand Author. **"Bind, Please!"**

Four red magical circles surrounded the two Cie'th and chains sprouted out from them and entangled themselves around the two creatures as I reclaimed my weapon and fired few more times, causing them to become black mist as well.

The adrenaline from the fight soon came to a halt as the last of the Cie'th were taken care of and Trench Coat spoke. "So, we're really are I'Cie." He said as I cancelled the transformation and Afro spoke. "Looks like it."

"You too?" Trench Coat asked Vanille who nodded and raised up his skirt a bit to show her Mark on her thigh as I looked at my hand closer, it was a strange pattern, the same as Vanille's but it covered most of my left hand and a part of wrist and shown it to everyone.

"L'Cie to the last." Lightning said as Hope fell to his knees and asked himself in desperation. "Why me?" he looked at Lightning "I don't' even know you! But you have to go and attack that thing? Just leave me alone!" he cried out as he stared at Trench Coat and looked down at the crystal ground. "It's your fault-, It's your fault my- You could've-" Fists were clenched and he stood up, screaming at trench Coat. "All of this is yours and Serah's fault!" he cried out.

"Watch it! Trench Coat responded in a serious tone as Hope fell onto his bottom and frightened of him as he shuffled back, only to look over his shoulder and have Lightning glare at him and he cowered, hand sover head and I had to admit something. "_This is just pathehic…_" I thought.

"Sorry." Trench Coat apologized, a hand to his forehead as Vanille comforted Hope. "Everything's going to be alright, you'll see. Come on." She reassured him and helped him up. "Off we go!" She started off in a direction taking Hope along with her and soon everyone else started to follow them, me included.

"Anyway, I'm Snow, Snow Villers, Miss Solider is called Lightning," Snow introduced as Afro spoke. "Sazh, and you kids are?" He asked us as Vanille smiled. "I'm Vanille, this is Hope and Daniel!" She said without holding back at all.

"_The mark of a I'Cie, a brand that marked me a monster in people's eye and granting me the ability to become Wizard, but little did I know, from this point on, my life would be changed forever._" I narrated to someone.


	2. Chapter 2: The Focus of a I'Cie

I do not own Final Fantasy XIII as the distributor and ownership is Square Enix, I also do not own Kamen Rider Wizard as it's claimed by Shotaro Ishinomori and Toei, All I shall own in this crossover is My OC, also I have a Beta-Reader for this fic known as WhiteRose-Aki now!

**Chapter 2**  
**The Focus of a I'Cie**

"Okay, if we don't know our Focus, how do we complete it?" Lightning asked after a short while of traversing the crystalized lake.

"I think.. I saw it…" Vanille said almost quietly and Lightning turned to her. "Saw what?" she asked as Sazh joined in the conversation. "That's how a Focus comes down, people. The fal'Cie? They don't spell it out with clear cut instructions. All you get is a hazy glimpse."

Snow and Lightning stared at Sazh as he continued. "You know, legends and all." He said, mumbling as he turned around and Lightning asked hope. "Did you see anything?" She asked and Hope shook his head a little. "I-uh, I just… it's all kind of foggy, but, I saw this big, no I mean towering-" My eyes widened as Sazh spoke in surprise.

"W-wait a minute, hold on now, did we all have the same dream?" he asked us all and Snow and Lightning spoke one word I knew, in fact probably all of us did. "Ragnaork."

"So we all saw the same dream. We all heard that same voice." Sazh said as Vanille nodded and I decided to ask. "Okay, so we know our Focus, but how on earth are we supposed to know what to do?"

"That's the tricky part." Vanille's voice sounded as I stared at her. "The dream's the only hint what the fal'Cie gives us, figuring out what to do with it, that's our job!" She said with certainty

"Okay okay, so we're Pulse I'Cie now, Enemies of Cocoon? Does that mean our Focus is-?" She trailed off before Snow cut in. "Save her." As Sazh asked in confusion. "Say what?"

"Our Focus is to protect Cocoon." Snow's voice was soon drowned out by my thoughts, questions revolving around my head particularly around my functioning Driver giving me the ability to transform into Wizard. "_Did that fal'Cie do something? Does this mean I have a Phantom inside of me?"_ I thought, though unfortunately, my train of thought was interrupted as Lightning's voice cut through.

"Come on." She said, as everyone went on ahead and I followed her as Snow was talking about fighting Ragnarok, an argument almost came by Lightning placing her sword at Snow's neck before a voice called out. "Freeze!" We all reacted to this as soldiers surrounded us all and guns pointed. "Place your hands behind your heads!"

We all did and one asked. "You fall off the Purge Train?" and Lightning had sarcastically responded. "Maybe." As the guard approached her and pointed the barrel at her and she spoke. "Nice gun." Before she disarmed him in a rapid movement, flipping him and picking her weapon and attacking a few of them in rapid movement of only a perhaps a minute or two as since the guards were distracted b this, Snow used his Ice magic to get one from behind and Vanille with Wind, I decided to join forces with Sazh and Hope, my weapon drawn again and kept it in gun mode, firing upon one as Sazh did notably the same and Hope using his boomerang to distract.

"I need a few seconds, can you give me that?" I asked Sazh and he nodded, probably seeing what I planned on doing and pulled out a Topaz Ring Square ring and flipped the plastic over and activated the Belt. "_**Shadooie touch to henshin! Shadooie touch to henshin**__!"_ The belt said and I scanned the ring. "_**Earth! Please~ Don don don~" **_as a Earth magic circle appeared at my feet and covered me in the now familiar Earth Style of Wizard and I used another Ring. "_**Gravity! Please~!**_" as I pulled the trigger on two of the guards and they literally levitated in mid-air.

"Wh-what's happening!?" One guard cried out in surprise and I moved the hand equipped with the Earth Style ring on the thumb of the Hand Author on the Wizarswordgun and opened it, as if it was meant to shake hands with someone and scanned the ring over it. **"**_**Come on a Slash, Shake Hands!**__, __**Earth! Slash Strike!**__**Don Don don!**_**"** It called out before I charged forward at the helpless soldiers and pulled the trigger on the weapon as a dust devil with stones coated the blade of the WizarSwordGun and I sliced them both, the men falling to the floor as Gravity's spell ended.

It seemed the other soldiers too were either knocked unconscious by the spells cast or attacks as Sazh bent over one. "I thought they'd be tougher than that." He looked at lightning. "These guys are PSICOM, yeah?" he waved his hand over the unconscious guard. "Supposed to be cream of the crop."

"Yeah but PSICOM's an anti-Pulse taskforce, haven't fought a war in centuries." Snow said as he joined them, hands at his sides. "Just a bunch of rookies swinging around overpriced toys." He said and Sazh looked at him. "So… from what you're telling me, it sounds like a regular old solider has got more training than special forces."

"Nothing for us I'Cie to be afraid of." Snow shrugged as Lightning's voice cut through rather sternly, grabbing all of our attention. "Cut the crap, Their grunts might be green, but PSICOM's elites are cold-blooded beasts, they hit the field and it's game over." She said seriously as the atmosphere was tense until Vanille's voice came through.

"Uh-oh, then let's run away! Ciao!" She said with a smile and ran on ahead as Sazh called out to her. "Hey, wait!" he gave a sigh and a small yellow bird came out of his afro and landed in his open palm and muttered. "What's a man to do?"

Everyone had headed onwards as I cancelled my transformation again following Hope and Vanille as Sazh muttered as he stared at Vanille, Hope and Daniel.

"It's not right, why'd have kids have to get dragged into this?" he asked and Snow walked alongside, pointing at himself with a thumb. "I'll keep the kids out of trouble." He said as Sazh gave a light laugh and patted his back. "Problem with that is, you're one of them." He said and walked on. "trying to take on the Pulse fal'Cie, that was our first mistake. Should have left it to the Sanctum."

Sazh sighed and crossed his arms, staring at Vanille who waved to them and grabbed Hope's and my hands with her own and waved them to the three but Hope pulled his hand after a few seconds, me, I was kind of content at Vanille doing her best to try and keep us cheerful.

"Why not, I mean we counted on the fal'Cie for food and water." He said as Snow came up alongside and Lightning. "But you still helped us do it, why's that? There's gotta be a reason right?" he asked him and Sazh walked towards us. "There might have been, not so sure anymore."

We continued onwards, fighting a few Cie'th or soldiers as Lightning, Snow and Sazh mainly took point as Vanille asked. "So, whatcha do back there?" She asked me completely out of the blue and I looked at her, confused. "What?" I asked her and Vanille continued. "Your strange magic silly!" I realised she meant my armour as Wizard, but how should I answer her by saying 'it's an armour that came from a children's Japanese TV Show?'? But I chose to answer in a different way.

"Probably something the fal'Cie did? I don't know, I'm just as confused as you are." I said rather honestly and she noticed my bag on my waist. "What's in there? Money?" She asked and I shook my head lightly. "No, just the other Rings I own." I said, showing her the Flame Ring I placed back on with the Driver On ring on my other middle finger.

We eventually had to make certain jumps across some debris and was walking down an incline of some of it as Lightning looked to her right, seeing something in the formation of crystal and paused in her steps as if to try and figure it out and she spoke one word. "Serah." It was Serah crystalized and buried in the crystalized ground

Snow ran past Lightning, calling out her name too and grabbed a piece of metal and starting to pierce through the crystal ground to get her out as Vanille grabbed something of her own. "I'll help you!" She said and Snow nodded in appreciation. "Thanks" as Sazh took went to help, I did wonder if my Gravity Ring would help but stopped from doing so.

"_I could damage her than pull out her out."_ I thought to myself, I didn't exactly much of a grasp on the newfound experience of magic and I wasn't going to risk injuring someone if they are crystal so I did the next best thing I could, I found a sharp piece of debris and pulled it out and went to help the three of them, I may not have known Serah but I couldn't just leave someone behind like this.

Lightning and Hope watched on as Lightning muttered. "This is good-bye." and turned around to continue on as Snow stopped and followed her. "You're just gonna leave her?" Snow asked and Lightning answered "PSICOM will be here soon, if they find us, we're all dead. You think Serah would want that? You think you know how she feels?" She asked and advanced forward a bit more before Snow answered back.

"If I leave her, I'll never know. We'll be fine, I can handle anything they throw at us." Snow placed his hand on his chest. "No-one will die. I'll protect Serah and Cocoon!" He said firmly and Lightning turned around and came back in a rather fast movement, stopping before Snow and punched him in the face, making him fall.

"Does she look protected to you?" She asked as Snow lay on the floor and got back up immediately. "I can save her!" He responded only to receive another punch to the jaw and he fell again. "What can you possibly do?" She asked him and Snow looked up at Lightning with a firm stare. "Whatever it takes!"

Sazh got up and put his hands behind his head and spoke. "You two are hopeless." He said as he walked away and Snow resumed digging and Sazh continued on away from the group, out of hearing range "You just can't admit it, you want to stay as much as he does." He said, watching the scene before s searchlight was on him and he looked down at his chest, seeing a strange machine from where they were before, and he knew what it was.

"No…No! No no no, not now!" he cried out as the machine leapt up, twisting it's body and landed nearby Hope who fell onto his behind moving back away from it as Vanille, Snow and Lightning took point I stared at it, it seemed like an dolphin shaped machine with a bone's tail, though, it looked more worse for wear.

"Just what is that?" I asked and Sazh spoke. "An old friend you might say." He said as Lightning cast Ruin magic in conjunction with Snow using his body as a shield to take the brunt of the machine's attacks and Vanille casting a green light over Snow and throwing from Aero at the machine and they were doing some damage to it but it shuddered and begun to open up its dolphin shape, particles of energy condensing into a stream of energy and they all took it, leaving them wearied down had Vanille not cast some Cure upon their bodies and they counterattacked with more vigour, eventually shutting the creature down as it become a black silhouette and dispersed.

Lightning, Snow and Vanille breathed a bit heavily as Lightning turned to the direction to move on and Snow blocked her way. "You're leaving?" He asked her, a disappointed expression on his face and Sazh spoke. "We want to help Serah too." He said and looked at the crystal Serah. "But without tools… we could be digging here for days, the army's on our trail now, we gotta keep moving."

"So I just abandon her, and save myself?" Snow protested and Lightning asked a question. "What about your Focus? What happened to banding together and saving the world?" Snow stared at her and she stared back at him. "Isn't that what you promised?" She asked again and continued. "Now you want to forget it all and die here?" She asked again and continued on with her lecture. "Snow, you're nothing but talk."

Lightning walked past him and Snow clenched his fist. "Lightning!" She stopped as Snow continued. "I'll do whatever it takes! I'll finish this Focus… and keep Serah safe. That's my promise."

"Great job so far." Lightning said dryly and continued on as Sazh sighed and looked at Snow who looked at him. "Stay out of trouble." He said and Sazh walked by, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You too." He responded and Snow looked at the three of us and thumbed behind him with a smile. "Get going." He said as we started to walk past him and he waved Vanille off. "Later." He said and she nodded. "Okay."

Hope went to walk by him and stopped, turning around to walk in front of Snow. "Snow…" He said and Snow placed his hands on his sides. "Save it for next time kiddo, you'll get left behind." He said as Hope looked past him and stared back at him. "But…" Hope trailed off.

"It's okay Hope, Light will take care of you. We'll meet again." Snow said with a attempted smile and Hope nodded lightly. "Yeah, count on it." Hope said and ran by him and I approached him.

"You should get going too." Snow said and I nodded before digging into my pouch and spoke. "Snow, I'm not sure how long it'll be until we meet again, but, I want to make sure you come back so, here." I tossed a Ring at him and Snow caught it, it had the markings of Wizard in his Flame Style only gold, I knew it was the Engage Ring.

"Hold onto it for me, this way, I'll know you'll come back." I said and Snow took a moment to consider this. "Sure kiddo, I'll return this, now hurry and go." He said and I nodded, breaking into the run by him to catch up with the others.

-Lightning's group-

We progressed further on even coming to a dead end at one point had Lightning not somehow used his skills to kick a turret mounted on a strange machine up high to clear a crystal wall, of course that had the effect of froglike creature emerging onto the bridge we were meant to cross, but ti was nothing short that Lightning, Vanille and Sazh couldn't handle, but the hardest thing for us was climbing a mountain of ice and Lightning made it look easy, we only managed to catch up due to perseverance of not wanting to be caught.

We all bent down low as we spotted what appeared to be a golden ship on the crystal ice with littler ones patrolling the area and soldiers wore black outfits of the ones before but with purple lightings and Sazh muttered quietly. "Must be hunting down Purge survivors." He said and Vanille spoke next. "I hope everyone made it out okay." And Sazh agreed

"But no-where's safe for them, all because of them sharing a neighbourhood with a fal'Cie, they get treated like Pulse-tainted rats." Vanille looks down and asked. "People really hate Pulse, don't they?"

"Not hate, more like fear, tens of millions of people all scared of Pulse boogeymen." He said and placed a hand on his chest where his brand was. "They'd be shaking in their beds every night if they knew… that I'Cie like us were around." He said and Vanille paused for a moment. "But they Purged that entire town." She said and Sazh looked at her. "It's crazy, I know. But the Sanctum fal'Cie did nothing to stop it, up until now, Eden's always stepped in… to correct their errors in judgement, guess humans aren't worth the effort."

"Figure they'll just let us kill each other off." He finished and Hope stood up. "I'Cie are not human." Hope said coldly and Vanille got up and walked up to him. "Listen you! That's enough!" She said a bit angry and grabbed his arm, only to stare down at where his brand was and let go as I got up from lying down.

"Even so Hope, we're still alive." I added and Vanille nodded. "That's something." She said to get the mood up and a rumble occurred as three ships passed by us, not noticing our presence luckily and Lightning observed their movements. "They're sealing off the area, they're trying to trap the stragglers, and we got to get moving before we're all caught in the net." She said clearly and a bit desperately and we all nodded, continuing on

"Wonder it'll be like, to become a crystal I mean." Sazh asked aloud and Vanille turned to him. "You gonna complete your Focus?" she asked and Sazh shrugged. "Maybe, if I knew what it was. I probably don't want to know" He responded and Vanille looked at Lightning. "Hey Lightning, did Serah tell you anything about her Focus?" She asked her and Lightning looked down, her hand at her chest probably where her brand was and said one word. "Nothing."

"Oh you know what, she probably didn't want to worry you!" Vanille said as he walked in front of her and Lightning looked at her. "Or she just didn't think she could trust me." She said and moved on, us following behind her.

Did I mention I hated stairs? Scratch that, A LOT of stairs, we stumbled upon some old ruins and solders had Lightning not lead us through the more quieter route without attracting too much attention and we ascended a ton load of stairs reaching the top, almost out of breath, well Sazh was anyway and the top had some orange crystal formations as we were all in awe of the scene, Vanille chuckling and laughing lightly as she went on ahead. "Stay close." Lightning said and Vanille responded. "I want to look around!"

Lightning almost had an annoyed look on her face and Vanille came running back from up ahead, a strange bird like creature following her that was white and had blue energy lines coursing through its wings as Vanille, Sazh and Lightning took their stances as I activated the Driver and scanned the Hand Author with the Flame Ring on my hand, a Flame Circle forming and passing over me, forming Flame Style Wizard and I switched the WizarSwordGun into Shooting Mode, Hope wielding his boomerang,

The creature swopped down and knocked us all of our feet and we quickly regained our footing, myself and Lightning shooting bullets, only she had to reload, I on the other hand, had seemingly limitless ammo at my disposal while Sazh would fire his bullets and Vanilel casting Wind magic and Hope, controlling his boomerang to attack its wings.

"It's coming again." Lightning said I switched out the Driver On Ring for the Defend Ring and Scanned it on the Hand Author. "_**Defend! Please~**_**"** The belt called out as I moved hand out and from it, a fiery wall came out from the Red Magic Circle and the monster slammed into it, burning itself and dropping back, cautious and started charging something its mouth, almost like lightning and we dived away to narrowly avoid getting electrocuted.

"Then let's try this." I said and switched out the Flame Ring for a Green Emerald one and scanned it on the Hand Author. "_**Hurriance! Please~ Fu Fu, Fu Fu!**_**"** The Author called out as I raised my hand up above me and a Green Magic Circle formed and descended upon me, forming Hurricane Wizard as I switched another ring around and scanned it. "_**Copy! Please~!**_**"** The author on the weapon said and I was now dual wielding the WizarSwordGun in Shooting Form and firing upon it causing twice as much damage, especially wind Wind Magic coated bullets and the bird monster turned around and broke through a wall of orange crystals and Lightning spoke.

"It's charging up." She said and Sazh looked at her. "Charging? What you talking about? Charging up for what?" He asked and Lightning spoke. "It's last moments!" she said and ran on ahead, us following behind and taking out stances once again, but the creature was now enveloped in a white light and any attack we done was having no effect on it until it started to die down and started charging up another Lightning Breath attack but I dismissed the copy of the weapon in my hand and activated Defend again, this time, being a strong gale to misdirect it's attack slightly but it's wings being moved.

"Let's hurry and Finish this." Lightning said and everyone nodded, Hope channelling Wind magic as did Vanille while Sazh used Fire and Lightning Ruin, I however removed a Ring and switched it out for the Kick Strike ring and scanned it on the belt. ""_**Very Nice! Kick Strike! Fabulous!"**_ it called out and I leapt up high, wind magic swirling around my right foot and I I descended towards the bird, kicking it in the head and passing through it, causing it become black and vanishing like the other monsters.

Everyone gave a big sigh of relief, including me as I cancelled my transformation and Vanille gasped and ran forward, pointing at a ship we didn't even notice during the battle. "Check it out!" She ran towards it and Sazh looked at us. "Come on, hop to it. Let's go"

We moved in closer, unaware a bird like a owl fluttered down and landed on some debris as Vanille clapped her hands together. "This will make things much easier!" She said happily and Sazh crossed his arms. "Yeah, knowing our luck, it's missing an engine." As Vanille frowned and spoke. "You shouldn't be so negative."

"And you shouldn't get your hopes up." Sazh said as he continued to get on the craft, all of us following suit.

"_Promises, is that what made us keep going? Or was it desperation at the time? Snow was all talk but somehow, you could always rely on him, at least, that's what I thought when I saw him, but I suppose promises was all we had left, but somewhere deep down, I wanted to believe in them."_ I narrated quietly to no-one.


	3. Chapter 3: Snow's Promise, Another Rider

I do not own Final Fantasy XIII as the distributor and ownership is Square Enix, I also do not own Kamen Rider Wizard as its claimed by Shotaro Ishinomori and Toei, All I shall own in this crossover is My OC, Beta-Reader is WhiteRose-Aki.

Now to answer some Reviews:

**Land**: Thank you for being the first reviewer of Chapter 1, that one review was what made Chapter 2 come out so quickly as it gave me motivation to write it.

**Jo:** There will be other Riders, that I can promise you!

**CanadianRider: **I thank you for telling me I'm doing a nice job of it so far, especially evening out Wizard's powers with that of the Protagonists are working with, and the White Wizard aiding Daniel to gain more power? We'll see what goes on.

And to those who followed or favourite me and my story, thank you for doing so, that makes me happy and motivates me to write more Chapters out for you guys, especially the Reviewers, anyway I taken up enough of your time, you're here for the next segment, well, let's go!

**Chapter 3**  
**Snow's Promise, Another Kamen Rider!?**

Snow relentlessly dug through the crystalized ground, making small progress, pausing for a moment, staring at his fiancé briefly, taking a small breather before resuming stabbing the strap debris into the ground again, but then his ears heard a whining noise and he turned his head to the right, seeing three ships zoom down and fly by as he followed them with his eyes, curving around as a spotlight was shining behind him further down the clearing and resumed work.

"_Sweep Team to base. L'Cie spotted, I repeat, L'Cie spotted._" A soldier's voice announced via intercoms as the spotlights of the ships converged upon him. "_Pulse I'Cie. Confirmed."_ The intercom blared again as Snow sighed and got off his knees and turned around staring directly at the three huge ships in the sky, ignoring the white brightness and shouted nice and loud. "You gonna lend me a hand or what?"

That had the effect of soldiers dropping down from the huge ships, the same black soldiers with purple markings, dropping what appeared to be grenades and what they hit the crystal floor, ti created some kind of bubble that the soldiers landed in and their feet placed neatly on the ground as they moved forward, armed with their weapons cautiously.

"_Commencing clean-up protocol._" The intercom blared again and Snow raised the scaffolding of debris he held and looked down the soldiers. "Clean up? Let me help!" He said and threw it like a javelin directly at the crowd of soldiers converging and knocked two out with it as he leapt down where he once stood and ran down the hill, leaping off with momentum and landing on a solider, feet first, stomping him to the floor with his weight, knocking the man unconscious and he stood up, in fighting stance as more soldiers leapt from the air, using the gravity grenades to soften their landing, making their force count eight.

"_Well, let's see how they can handle this._" Snow thought and ran forward, ignoring the hailstorm of bullets and gave a solider a rather strong uppercut to his jaw, sending him flying and his body glowed yellow, switched to Sentinel to create a shield that deflected more bullets coming and his brand glowed bluish-white and he fired a Blizzard at a solider right in the chest and turned on his heel, charging at a third soldier ,his fist covered in the same light and delivered a punch to the chest enhanced with ice, a Froststrike and he grinned, taunting them to come on.

"Come on, can't handle one guy?" Snow asked cockily and charged forward, switching to firing three spells of Blizzard at the next few, freezing their legs in place of their weapons which he took advantage of to knock them out with his fists, but more just kept coming but he relentlessly kept attacking left and right, casting Blizzard or defending, but he was growing tired and fell onto his knees, his vision becoming slightly blurry.

"_Can't give in now... Gotta…protect Serah…!"_ Snow thought in desperation before his mark glowed more brightly than before, the soldiers taking a few steps back as a strange symbol was forming in mid-air and becoming a sphere with strange scriptures on its form, expanding in size before eventually shattering almost like crystal and the most unusual thing came from it, two women with most strange body armour, one being pale white skinned and the other a dark black, but the most interesting thing about them was their heads which seemed to have wheels.

"_What's…going on?"_ Snow thought in confusion as the white lady's wheel detached and started spinning wildly with blue energy before they motioned with it, firing it at the soldiers and swerving around, creating an icy gale the rendered all of them unconscious with ease as Snow stared at them.

"What's happening?" He asked himself, hand over his brand, looking at the two women who turned their heads to make eye contact with him while in the distance a woman wielding a red spear with black and garbed in a blue sari and soldiers garbed in blue and white watched on with another female with shoulder length light brunette brown hair and wearing a light gravy vest over a white and green stripped long sleeve shirt, light blue cargo pants with a pair of black snow boots, holding a staff.

The women raised their deadly projectile of a wheel up and Snow immediately reacted, standing up and bringing his arms up and he felt something strange, as if he was slowly getting weaker.

"_What? Did they do something?"_ Snow thought but the Wheel came flying under the control of the White Woman, he shifted immediately, narrowly avoiding it and stared at them. "_Well, looks like I'll have to beat them too!_" Snow thought and charged forth, to punch at the white woman while the black one stood idly by but in recognition of the attack dealt, Snow got a nice chestful of Wheel and it send him flying onto his back.

"Okay… that coulda gone better." Snow groaned in pain but the black woman cast a spell of green energy towards him and he felt somewhat refreshed and feeling almost no pain at all.

"_Huh?"_ Snow was confused but resumed to try the same tactic again, it seemed the black one wasn't going to be any danger at all but he ducked from a Wheel Grind and punched as hard as he could into the White Woman, it sadly had no effect and he was slammed once again with the Wheel, and the healing began again.

"_Okay so normal attacks won't work…, I doubt Magic can…. In that case…_" Snow thought and switched to Sentinel, crossing his arms as a shield formed just as the wheel slammed into it, creating sparks, but he stood his ground firmly, despite feeling weaker internally, he wasn't going to give up here and then the women stared at him and nodded slightly to one another before the attack of the Wheel ceased and floated in mid-air, spinning before joining together to create a futuristic motorcycle and Snow leapt upon it, sitting in the seat and landed on the ground, spinning around, making noises with the wheels as it skidded and came to a close and he smiled, getting off as the contraption vanished in a blue light and into a crystal and entered his brand.

Snow fell onto his knees, groaning and fell on his back, exhaustion slowly overcoming him as footsteps approached. "The Twin Sisters, I gotta hand it to you for taking them down, but don't gloat just yet, might come a time you wish you let'em end it, and made things easy." A woman's voice sounded as he pointed her red spear at the collapsed man and he turned over, his vision blurry and managed to speak.

"More of you… huh?" He said and another spoke. "So this guy's a I'Cie?" She asked as she seemed to be wearing a silver necklace with a crystal blue pendant, having the same Belt Daniel had only outlined in Red around the Hand Author instead of gold around her waist and wearing a similar condensed Ring on her left ring finger and the Driver On Ring on her right ring finger.

"Yup, take him." The woman in blue said as the soldiers readied their guns, one of them not opting to wear a helmet and having way brown hair and a the making of a stubble beard as Snow glared at them. "Back off!"

"You want to keep breathing? Shut up and be quiet." The woman in blue said, raising Snow's head lightly by his chin before delivering a side chop to his neck, rendering him unconscious, however he managed to regain it rather quickly enough in time to see Serah being levitated away "Serah… Serah!" Snow called out as a soldier came, pointing a gun at him. "Shut it."

"Stand down." The woman said and pushed the guard's gun away, staring at the man was his arms were carried over two soldier's shoulders and indicating with her thumb to where they should take him as Snow caught a glimpse of a whited out brand on the woman's right upper arm. "You too? Why are you helping them?" he asked and the woman answered, arms crossed.

"If I were you, I'd be more worried about myself."

**-Bresha Ruins-**

We all sat in our seats at the cockpit, Sazh had the pilot seat and the turbines started, shooting us forward and up high into a tunnel as other ships followed in pursuit as gunfire rained down, or was it energy beams? I wasn't too sure, all I did know was if we were hit, that was the end.

"Aww no!" Sazh moaned and Lightning moved up in front, grabbing the driver stick and pressing a button, firing upwards at where the shots came from and caused an explosion, it seemed she managed to get one of the ships and used that chance for us to pass through the blockade.

"Did we get them?" Vanille asked and Lightning answered. "We got o_ne_ of them." As bullets rained from behind the ship and Hope cried out. "They're still behind us!"

"Can't this thing go any faster?!" I asked in desperation as we passed through some buildings, letting out some screams from me, Vanille and Hope as we weaved through the old buildings and upwards through a crevice and Hope asked. "How are we gonna lose them!?" He asked and Sazh responded.

"You got me, kid!" as Lightning spoke. "Then let me!" She said clearly and Sazh refused. "No thank you!" before clear blue skies met our eyes of course, that didn't stop the gunfire behind us as Sazh turned his head to look behind. "They're still on us?" He asked before diving downwards with the stick, forcing it to dive as a rumble shook the ship.

"We're taking hits!" Sazh said as we were now in some canyon and above a lake streaming down as we entered a ravine. "Come on, give me a break!" Sazh protested aloud and fired some shots as a piece of unstable canyon and dived literally under it, barely missing the falling piece of land but unfortunately for the pursers, they drove straight in.

Sazh gave a deep breath and slammed his fist on the console, head down. "For the love of all that's good!" He cried out, activating a projector as a reporter spoke "_Next, an update on the status of the Purge, just moments ago, the Sanctum announced the successful conclusion of the Purge along with the safe arrivals of Cocoon immigrants to their new homes on Pulse._"

Sazh sighed and pressed a button and now in front of me some a very old man wearing rather elegant robes, almost like a Pope or something. "_Yes that is correct, there's no denying the enormity of the strain the Purge placed on us all. But given the tens of millions of lives at stake, there was truly no alternative._" The man explained, looking if not grieve stricken and another reporter came on. "_Primach Dysley stood by the move, stressing the necessity of the relocation. When asked about the possibility of future Purges, the Primach remained noncommittal… stating that he will seek counsel with the fal'Cie Eden and weigh all options before making a decision._"The Reporter said as Sazh spoke.

"Yeah that's right, if it makes the Sanctum look bad, it'd never happened." Sazh muttered as Vanille played another video. "_Cocoon has been spared Pulse aggression and prospered for it, it is essential we maintain this peace, that is the Sanctum's focus._ _We will continue employing every resource available to combat these threats to the harmony of our society._" Dysley spoke through the video as Sazh turne dhsi head to look at us.

"Meaning, we'll be running for the rest of our lives." Sazh said and Vanille asked him a question. "Hey, umm who's this guy?" She asked and I decided to input my own question. "This guy looks important." and Sazh groaned nodded his head down in defeat almost. "I mean, what do they teach kids these days, he's Galenth Dysley the Sanctum Primarch , Murderer-in-chief."

Lightning spoke next throughout the whole video. "Just another tool of the fal'Cie." She inputted as there was talk of additional Purges should the need arise and Sazh sighed. "Let's Purge everybody, that'll fix it!" he said sarcastically before the ship's sirens went off, an indication of danger coming.

Bullet storms came again as Sazh looked. "Points for per severance!" he said before we blinded by sunlight and went we parted though the clouds, the most amazing sight befallen my eyes, a ship with a mystical light, ti was truly incredible and I think Vanille spoke my thoughts. "Wow…" She said in surprise and Sazh spoke. "A Sanctum fal'Cie up close and personal, Cocoon's own light in the sky." He said before the reality of being shot at brought us back to realization.

"Here we go again." Sazh muttered and Lightning added in. "Fly in! We'll lose them there " she suggested and so we did, Sazh avoiding the electrical currents of the fal'Cie and we saw a pursuing ship explode. "I like this fal'Cie!" Sazh said with almost a happy tone and Vanille's voice came. "There's more of 'em!"

Sadly, we seemed to have gotten hit by something and me we screamed, literally, descending, no plummeting fast to the ground.

**-The Vile Peaks, Cocoon Badlands-**

I could see only blackness until I heard Vanille's voice calling out to me. "Hey Daniel, wake up!" and I groaned, seeing her shaking me and she pointed to Lightning being attacked by red wolf-like creatures with some plating as we ran to join her, I pulled the WizarSwordGun out in Shooting Mode and we all fought, lightning spinning around with a Blitz while Sazh and Vanille cast Fire and Wind magic respectively and I fired flame bullet, curving around lightning to stagger her target from clawing back at her, eventually we cleared the area

We all took a deep breath as Vanille knelt down on the floor to catch her breath as she and Sazh sat down, I too went to sit down, all this fighting and risking my life was tiring me out but Lightning walked on and Sazh put his hand up to stop her. "What, no break?" he asked in protest.

"They're tracking us." Lightnign answered and Sazh spoke. "I know that. I know but we aren't soliders! We don't have your kind of stamina." He said in argument and Lightning turned her head at him. "You got enough to complain."

"Oh that's- Forget it!" Sazh said and Hope walked ot the three of us. "I think um…" Hope was about to say and Sazh waved his hand to where Lightning went off. "I'd stick with her if I were you." Sazh offered and Hope nodded. "later then." He ran off and Sazh looked at me. "You too kid."

I shook my head. "No thanks, I need a breather from all this." I answered and Vanille got up and looked at us. "Come on then, let's get going." She said and Sazh looked to the side. "Get going to where exactly? The whole of Cocoon's against us, no matter how far we run, there's no escape. That Cie'th clock, it's still a-ticking."

"There's still time, you give up too easy, old man!"" Vanille said and I gave a soft chuckle. "I'm not giving up, but there are some things you just can't change, kids like you two wouldn't understand." He said and I spoke. "Yeah, we're kids alright." I said and Vanille crossed her arms and turned around. "That's right, we don't understand!" she almost crossly.

"Well, I guess we all can be fugitives together. " He said and I nodded lightly and stoop, losing by balance a bit as I almost crashed into Vanille had I not regained my footing and Sazh got up too.

"You ready?" he asked us and Vanille nodded. "Ready!" she said as I nodded too, Vanille pushing Sazh and me forward with a hand on our backs, and so Sazh was decided to be a leader for now and we just followed his lead and he sighed, being quiet as we all were.

-**Flashback, Bodhum, Day 11-**

I was walking among the crowd of people, alone as I sat on the beach, cheers and excitement filling the air while in the middle was a big sphere setting off fireworks, I had to smile at the sight but soon had the sorrowful expression on my fact it had been eleven Days since my arrival on this strange world, I was just lucky enough that I had some money to afford a place to stay when I arrived here, just being a part-timer at an Inn, cleaning the sheets or wiping tables, thankfully the owner was kind enough to give me lodgings and told me I should attend this fireworks festival.

"_Eleven days… and no way back home._" I thought solemnly, during the period, I decided to least study of where I landed, I was on someplace called Cocoon, a floating city in the sky and the place I ended up was Bodhum, a seaside city that holiday makers go to and it just so happened they were pouring in, I still remember how this all came to happen, I was about to play Final Fantasy XIII on a rainy and thundery evening as a gift from an friend who recommended it and my screen flashed white, blinding me and then I found myself in an alley with the Wizard merchandise brought along as I usually placed them on a desk, learning my weapon was real but not the rings, that surely disappointed me, but the Rings got smaller in size during my trip I suppose I would call it.

"So these are wish granting fireworks?" I mumbled to myself, which was the rumour going around as I stared at the sphere and closed my eyes in prayer "_I wish I could go home._" I thought desperately, I missed my family, my pets, hell, I even missed my own comfy bed.

-**Vile Peaks, Cocoon Badlands-**

My mind was brought back to reality as Vanille was beginning to climb up an elevated path and Sazh and I not looking as Vanille spoke. "One, two , three, up we go!" she said and Sazh muttering. "What are you up to?" He asked and turned his head as did I seeing her bend over as he climbed up to a higher level, and Sazh's bird moved to block Sazh's view as he shook his head, me though, I blushed faintly, why? I just saw the outlines of Vanille's behind under her fur skirt but she was oblivious to the scene and I climbed up next, Sazh following with a bit of a struggle had I not helped him up.

"Can't keep up with you two at all!" Sazh said and I smiled, continuing on, we did come across some monsters and a rig Sazh said which he activated as well as turbine or propeller to clear debris and we found Hope sitting on a rock but no sign of Lightning.

"We made it!" Vanille said with relief and Sazh looked at Hope. "Where's Grumpy?" He asked and Hope nodded his head towards the mountain, an indication she was up there. "Got left behind huh?" Sazh asked and walked up to place a hand on Hope's shoulder but Hope stood and angrily spoke. "Leave me alone!"

"Hey!" Sazh protested and Hope continued. "This is pointless, can't keep up, can't get home, it's over for me." But then Vanille ran forward and bent slightly in Hope's face, making eye contact with him. "It's n_ot _over, we'll get you home!" She said with determination.

"I don't have one, now that Mom's-" Hope started to say I just had to ask. "What about your father Hope?" I interrupted and Hope looked down and took a few steps forward as he explained what happened during Bodhum about how they were forced onto the Purge Train and how frantic his mother was.

"She got tricked, by Snow, he used her!" he said angrily and Vanille changed the subject. "Let's get you home okay? Your dad's got to be worried!" Vanille said and Hope turned his head. "Let him worry. Why should I care? He doesn't." He answered and Sazh sighed to himself.

"Any father cares." He muttered and I looked at him. "Huh?" I asked in confusion as Sazh shook his head. "It's nothing, forget it" as he approached another contraption and I looked at Hope.

"Well come with us then Hope, it's better to stick together than be separated." I said and he nodded lightly as Vanille looked at me. "What about your family?" She asked and I stared at her. "Gone, they…aren't around anymore." I managed to say, everyone hearing that as Sazh pulled a lever to start the contraption and drag some elevation out to climb the steep hill. "Well, we got time, we'll get you back home, your dad will be happy to see you."

We climbed and saw more wreckage, if I say to a junkyard perhaps. "Is this some junkyard or something?" I asked curiously and Vanille ran forward a bit. "Isn't that a-"she spotted some big ship and Sazh spoke. "A warship from Pulse." He said as we all stared at it.

"You mean, they made it this far?" Vanille asked and Sazh waved his hand. "Of course not, not during the war, not since. They might have tried, but none of their forces made it into Cocoon. They only damaged the outer rim then the Sanctum's fal'Cie pushed them back, what you sleep through History?" Sazh asked her and Vanille chuckled lightly. "More or less, so what's a ship from Pulse doing here?"

Hope looked around and explained. "Once the war was over, people couldn't live near the rim anymore, in places like the Hanging Edge/ so the fal'Cie, they gathered up scrap from Pulse, and used it for rebuilding here, this is what was left, a bunch of garbage or in Daniel's words, a junkyard."

"Who'da thunk? A Pulse fal'Cie and who-knows-what mixed in with all the trash?" Sazh asked and Vanille looked down and spoke quietly. "Who'da thunk…" she whispered.

We continued onwards, fighting more monsters, I think I was slowly getting the hang of fighting for survival, we did find Lightning on the way, or rather, she found us. "Hey, welcome to the party!" Sazh said and Vanille smiled at her. "You miss us?" she asked her and she walked on and Sazh looked at us. "Would it kill her to least smile?" He asked and we followed her.

We did come across a big wreckage in a wide clearing before it was moved aside, a strange machine on two legs and have revolving claw like hands, lights on its front shining at us as Sazh asked. "What is that?" and Lightning drawn her weapon. "Pulse armament." As the machine smashed the remaining debris away and Sazh gulped. "And that's… bad for us isn't it?"

"You have eyes don't you?" Lightning asked as we all drawn our weapons I switched in Flame Style immediately, WIzarSwordGun in Sword Mode, Sazh and Vanille casting Aero and Water whiel Lightning sent a power chain and I fired upon it before it made a clawing sweep had we not leapt back and I removed the Flame Ring and switched it out. "let's try this." I said and switched to Earth Style and placed another ring on my finger and scanned it. "_**Bind! Please~**_" before four topaz circles surrounded the machine and stone chains tried to wrap around it but the machine twisted it body and broke them apart.

"Okay…not the best idea I had." I muttered and gasped, seeing its attention was focused on me. "Oh crap…" I muttered and quickly switched Rings, scanning it. "_**Defend! Please~**_" As a stone slab rose from the ground to block the swing but it punched through and the rubble scattered as I barely avoided being grabbed by the hand it had.

"Stupid kid!" Lightning ran forth and sliced across the metal work as Sazh fired upon the machine, and Vanille running over to ensure I was alright. "You okay?"

"Fine, just…Vanille!" I wrapped my arms around her and dived down the claw hand moving over our bodies, if she stood there a moment longer, the wide sweep would of sent her flying and Vanille gasped. "Thanks!" She said as I got up, I was weighing my options, Flame wouldn't do much good, even if I used a Shooting Strike or Slash, Hurricane Style and Thunder would probably the machine either a short-circuit frenzy or explode, I couldn't risk that, Big with Land Style could be risky and then I got an idea.

"This might work!" I said and switched the Earth Style Ring for a blue one and scanned it over the Hand Author "_**Water! Please~ **__**Sui-Sui! Sui-Sui!**_**"**As my form changed to Water Style and I switched for another Ring and scanned it. "_**Liquid! Please~**_" as my body felt a strange sensation a sI turned to liquid water, earning a gasp from Vanille and looks from the others and I moved my body through the machine to try and short-circuit it but that didn't work so I was on it's back, in normal state, WizarSwordGun in Shooting Mode, hand open but the machine opened it underside and fired some kidn of grenade and well, everyone scattered and it impacted the ground causing us all to fall down through the hold made, naturally screams were out as Lightning, Sazh, Hope and Vanille tumbled down and the machine moved forward close to the hole and I scanne dteh Water Ring on the Hand Author on the Sword.

"_**Come on a Shooting, Shake Hands! (Water!), Shooting Strike! (Sui-Sui! Sui-Sui!)**_" and as soon as I fired the machine leapt down with me on top, causing me to lose my aim and fire at the wall and falling and rolling it was it made an impact on the ground.

"Ow…" I groaned and Lightning's voice echoed. "Get up kid!" He brought her sword up to block one of the hands coming for me and I forced myself up as Vanille grabbed my wrist and pulled me back, a casta green glow upon me as did Hope, my pain ebbing away.

"If Water won't work I'll use ice." I said and switched out the Liquid Ring for the Blizzard Ring, scanning it. "_**Blizzard! Please~**_ as blue magic circle appeared under the machine and an icicle and went into its underbelly, freezing it in place.

"Let's give it the finale!" I said and repeated the Shooting Strike with Water Ring, Sazh and Vanille, casting Aero along with Hope while Lightning prepared a Ruin and we all fired, causing an explosion and it disappeared into the familiar blackness as I breathed deeply and cancelled Water Style.

"Pulse is crawling with things like that, isn't it?" Sazh asked Lightning and she spoke. "Got me, not even the Corps has access intel on Pulse. Soldiers in the field fight blind. " She explained and Sazh looked at her. "Yeah, I noticed that. But don't you need to know exactly what you're up against?" HE asked and Lightning naturally replied.

"Target's a target." And Sazh spoke. "You… like to keep it simple, don't you?" and she responded. "I stick to my goal."

"As long as you have a goal, you can fight?" Hope asked her and Lightning walked forward. "You can stay alive." and walked on, the rest of us following.

We had soon rested at huge wreckage, Sazh and Lightning on a higher level while I joined Vanille and Hope as we climbed up catching words of Lightning saying Pulse and Sanctum were the same and about bringing down Eden.

"We're all the same to them, expendable." Lightning said as we watched. "I'm not dying a fal'Cie slave." Lightning said and Sazh asked her. "So? What are you gonna do?" and she answered with two words. "Destroy it."

"By yourself? What, are you crazy? Say you pull it off, then what's that get you? Satisifaction? Something happens to Eden, it's light's out Cocoon!" He said, rubbing his forehead and came to realize something. "You _want_ that, you're a Pulse I'Cie now, so you just want to snuff out Cocoon!" and this point Vanille joined in. "No! What about Serah? She said to save Cocoon! It might even be our Focus cocoon stays-" She was interrupted by Lightning. "Our Focus doesn't matter. I don't take orders from fal'Cie, how I live is up to me."

"Don't you mean, how you die?" Sazh asked and Lightning looked over her shoulder lightly and spoke. "Think like that, and it's already over. Better to pick your path and keep moving., Don't worry, I'm after the Sanctum. I'm not out to destroy the world, if ti did come to that, I wonder if our 'hero' would try and stop me?" Lightning asked herself dryly.

"You want to fight Snow now? Just like that, your enemies?" I asked her in surprise "Next time we meet, we might be too." She said, looking at all of us and walking off and we watched her go.

"Snow deserves it!" Hope said and ran off after her, I wanted to tell him to let go of his hatred of Snow, but I couldn't as Vanille's voice sounded, shaking her head. "I don't know what I should do." She said and I managed to find my voice. "Same here." I said and Sazh ahd his arms crossed. "That makes three of us." and Vanille slapped his back. "Hey, you're looking after us!" and Sazh replied. "Well I won't eb if you keep doing that."

We all went to follow the direction Lightning and Hope went but smoke was rising from where they were and gunshots. "Uh-oh, army's out to play." Sazh said as I looked at him. "What do we do now?" I asked him and he looked at me. "What now? We could stay here, but shouldn't we-?"

"Run?" Vanille suggested and we looked at her. "We should run if we rush in now, we'll just get in her way." And Sazh looked at the smoke rising. "You know, you're right. I guess, I mean it's not like Lightning needs any help." Vanille and I nodded with him and we started walking in the opposite direction.

"_Fear, that's probably what drove us apart, being labelled as an enemy to an army, the idea of turning into a Cie'th was truly a terrifying thought, but even more so, I was on a strange world, no family, and the only friends being those who also had the same issue, being a I'Cie, I guess I just found it easier to stick to someone I known throughout my time here._" I narrated to nobody.


End file.
